There was a time (actually for the majority of my teens) when I thought everything should be either blue and white, or blue and yellow. So when I was given the go ahead to paint my first home away from home, I went a little colour crazy. As you can see the kitchen is still rather, ermmm, bold. The toilet is also still a bright pink, there are two deep red 'feature walls' in the lounge and until not so long ago the bathroom was also this same blue colour with bright yellow trims. While I'm still proud of my bold colour choices, I feel like I've evolved a little since then and that old paint job is looking tired and worn now (actually there are parts of the kitchen that haven't had a new paint job since the 70s when this house was first built). So my plan is to dedicate almost the entire summer to giving this old beauty a make over, I think she deserves it!
Obviously we are on a tight budget and most of the other rooms and outside of the house need some TLC too, but I really feel that even a few small renovations can make a big difference to a place. So here's what I'm planning for the kitchen...
Inspiration
Where would we ever be without Pinterest these days?? I pulled together a few ideas and kitchens I liked the look of and quickly realised there were several re-occurring features. One of the biggest ones were tiling! Oh how I'm dreaming of those old tiles. I don't think they're going to fit into this kitchen though sadly. The other main thing is that combination of white and wood, clean/ rustic I like to call it. It needs to be functional, have character and be relatively timeless.
The to-do list
- Paint EVERYTHING!
The walls need brightening up (obviously). And the ceiling which has never been painted and is by now a greasy yellow colour is absolute top of the list. Also inside the pantry (same dirty yellow and some weird sticky stuff on the shelves) and the cupboards under the bench (they are plain wood and need a protective coat). I'm hoping I can find a paint that is both eco and washable.
- Replace the formica bench tops with nice wooden ones.
For this I plan to hunt around old home demolition yards and see if I can find some good pieces to sand back and oil.
- Replace the oven.
Our oven/ stove is in such a sad state. I mean it's really on its last legs now and is probably the most used appliance in the house, so we absolutely need a new one.
- Clean/ paint the light shades and extractor fan.
These are both originals and I actually love them, but they are looking so aged and stained now. I'm hoping I can have them looking a bit smarter again by adding a new coat of paint.
- Fix up the laundry area.
I hate that we have to have our washing machine in the kitchen, it takes up so much valuable space. I have two ideas for this. Either we see if we can relocate it to the garage (and build a little laundry room there) or put an extra wooden bench in that goes across the washing machine so that the space is a little more useable.
- Finish the flooring.
About ten years ago we pulled up the hideous lino flooring and put down a wooden floor, sadly it was never quite finished! Currently there are still gaps all around the edges with black plastic sticking out, so that needs to finally be finished.
- Add some wooden shelving.
It seems like a lot, but I'm really expecting to get the whole kitchen finished in the space of about a week. Our lives pretty much revolve around food so I think it'll make all the difference in the world to have it looking good again! I look forward to sharing the progress.
x
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